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Kentilla1986 MastertronicBy
Derek Brewstor

Most
text of the present article comes from the review published
in the fourteenth issue of the British C64 magazine ZZAP!64
(street date: May 8th, 1986).

KENTILLAMastertronic,
£1.99
cassette only

ell,
well, who would have believed it! The Wiz first
played this game on the Spectrum way back in the
days of Personal Computer Games, Twin Kingdom
Valley, and Heroes of Karn. I suppose
it's just nostalgia that makes me look back on
those days with such fondness. Of course there
was a lot of tripe as well, but Kentilla
definitely wasn't tripe, and now it's up and running
on your 64 -- and for only £1.99!

Frankly, at that price, I regard it as one of the proverbial
'essential purchases'. It's a quirky little game by
Derek Brewster of Codename Mat II renown (he
also writes the adventure column for CRASH -- Ed). The
plot is quite straightforward -- go forth into the world,
the noble sword Kentilla by your side, and defeat
the nasty Grako. The game, however, is about as straightforward
as tapeworm tied in knots.

First,
there are the most intriguing and incomprehensible characters.
Whether you're doing battle with the Rattling Quarg
or exchanging meaningless banter with the Fat Cavezat,
you're busy wondering what on earth these creatures
do when you're in another location. Despite their strangeness,
they appear to have very definite characteristics which
lead you to ponder as to the nature of their private
lives.

That
probably sounds pretentious, but the essence of a good
character in a game rests on it being able to convince
you of its identity as someone in its own right. It's
odd how some characters attract one and others don't
-- for example, I never had any time for Thorin in the
Hobbit, for all his singing and ability to say
'No', whereas I conceived quite a liking for the giant
in Twin Kingdom Valley, even though he didn't
say anything.

It's
the same with Kentilla. The different characters
can move around, say 'Hello' and take or surrender objects,
but they also seem to have a strange, indefinable 'personality'.
After a while you realise that the Nasty Urga-Maul really
IS nasty, and that the Large Cavezat is precisely that
-- a Large Cavezat.

I
expect I've lost you all by now, but basically the message
is this: nip out with £1.99 in your pocket and get a
copy of Kentilla.

Oh
-- and I almost forgot -- the game features 12 minutes
of pure, unadulterated Rob Hubbard soundtrack. Mastertronic
tell me that it was originally meant to be synchronised
with the locations, but they didn't have time to do
it. I don't care -- it still sounds great and for once
I didn't turn off the volume while I battled on with
the game.